The Establishment of the Foundation
The Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation was established in 1984, a decade after the Turkish invasion and the ongoing occupation of the northern part of the island.

The Foundation was born out of the Bank’s growing concern to assist in the rescue of the island’s cultural heritage, which has been pillaged or stolen by the Turkish forces from the occupied areas, and to promote the Hellenic culture of Cyprus at a professional and scholarly level.

Thus, while the context of all projects undertaken by the Foundation is meant to be
Cyprological, i.e. pertaining to Cyprus (art, history, literature, etc.), the philosophy and policy of the Foundation is to promote the Hellenic character of Cyprus, in as much as this is an island of the wider Hellenic world. This assessment does not by any means detract from the unique, historical development of Cyprus from antiquity to the present.

In February 2000 the Greek authorities granted permission for a branch of the Cultural Foundation to be opened in Greece. The branch will have its temporary premises at the administrative headquarters of the Bank of Cyprus in Athens.

The object of the establishment of the branch is to strengthen cooperation between the Cultural Foundation and foundations in Greece and to contribute on a nation wide level, with regard to cultural issues concerning the Hellenic world as a whole.